Math should be fun.Everyone has the math gene.Technology is here to stay.Teamwork and Problem Solving are most important skills in job market.Common Core means critical thinking.Synthesis, combining ideas, is the highest form of creativity.One Smart Phone requires over 50,000 patent licenses: that's synthesis.Every student deserves the respect of his or her teacher.

Personal Note

MR Smith was raised on a farm in rural upstate New York; he graduated from Liverpool High School, with a Regents Diploma, in 1966. His first college, of a total of sixteen colleges he attended, was Broome Technical Community College in Binghamton, NY. In 1968, MR Smith transferred to Engineering at SUNY Buffalo where he was Stroke Man for the Rowing Team, a Brother in Theta Chi Fraternity and a Waiter at the Sign of the Steer Restaurant (He once waited on OJ Simpson of the Buffalo Bills). MR Smith graduated from Buffalo, with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1971. In September of that year, MR Smith became Ensign Smith and commenced Flight Training with the US Navy in Pensacola, Florida. In March of 1973, LTJG Smith graduated from Flight Training, having earned his “Wings of Gold.”

After a brief stopover at Naval Air Station Alameda, LTJG Smith reported to his first squadron, viz. VR-24, in Naples, Italy. In this capacity he flew cargo, mail and passengers to Sixth Fleet Aircraft Carriers in the Mediterranean. While a pilot in Italy, he earned a Masters of Education from Boston University, gained fluency in Italian, taught Philosophy for an extension of Los Angeles Community College and started his first newspaper i.e. “Prop Wash.” He remained in Italy, enjoying the “dolce vita,” for five halcyon years before transferring to Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.

At Roosevelt Roads Lieutenant Smith flew logistics missions to nearly every island in the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Panama, South America, Florida and the Florida Keys. In addition to flying, LT Smith attended the University of Maryland, acquiring tenuous fluency in Spanish and taught Math, Political Philosophy and Business Writing for New Hampshire College.

In 1983, LT Smith was unceremoniously released from active duty and relocated to Virginia Beach, Virginia where he attended Old Dominican University, taught Calculus at Tidewater Community College and taught Math at Maury High School of Norfolk. In 1985, MR Smith began flying commercially with Hensen Airlines of Salisbury, Maryland. To his relief, he was invited back on active duty with the Navy in early 1986 and was sent the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey to gain qualifications as an Aircraft Accident Investigator and an Aviation Safety Specialist.

Following graduation, LCDR Smith moved on to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily. In Sicily LCDR Smith flew mail, passengers and cargo as far north as the Arctic Circle, as far west as the Azores, as far East as Istanbul and as far south as Tel Aviv, Tunis and Gibraltar.

In 1990, LCDR Smith was relocated to NAS Alameda and plied the western skies from Mexico to Canada. With grateful relief, LCDR Smith retired from the Navy in 1994 and assigned himself to Ewa Beach, Hawaii, where he flew “Five-Island” tours with Circle Rainbow Air of Honolulu.

In 1995, MR Smith returned to Alameda and taught at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Oakland Airport, served AUSD as a substitute teacher and owned and operated Julia’s Oyster, a home repair business specializing in redwood decks, stairs and fences.

In 1997, MR Smith was given an opportunity of a lifetime: a temporary math teaching appointment at Encinal High. While teaching, MR Smith attended evening classes at Cal State East Bay and via his diligence, earned a teaching credential by 2007. The temporary math assignment has continued, without hiatus, since 1997.

In addition to being a Math Teacher, MR Smith is a Columnist for the Alameda Sun, a Theater Critic with the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, and a Playwright with the Family Club of San Francisco and the Fringe of Marin. MR Smith has three adult children: Jolie, Jordan and Julia. His eldest daughter, Jolie, will make MR Smith a Grandfather by mid-October. Jolie and Jordan attended Encinal High and even had MR Smith as their teacher. MR Smith, who was born in 1948, expects to retire on or before 2024. Presently, he enjoys the art of getting students to engage in critical thinking.

The Alameda Unified School District prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on actual or perceived ancestry, age color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, parental, family or marital status, or association with a person or a group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. For more information, please go to http://tinyurl.com/AUSD-NonDiscr-Policy.